Microsoft enhances its CRM tool

Microsoft's Business Solutions Unit last week announced plans to release an enhanced version of its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software in the summer of 2005.

Microsoft CRM 2.0 will feature a raft of new capabilities, including features for campaign-management, service-scheduling, marketing-automation and business-process-automation. The software giant is currently readying the first beta of the software.

Microsoft will also deliver additional customer-service enhancements for Outlook for mobile users, at the same time as the 2.0 release. The firm also revealed that it would add a Pocket PC complement to its CRM program.

Microsoft added that it is planning to release version 3.0 of the CRM software between July 2005 and July 2006. The company said CRM 3.0 will be optimised to take advantage of the features that are built into the Windows Longhorn client and server, adding that it would not delay the launch of CRM 3.0 if Windows Longhorn is released late.

The software giant last week reported growing take-up of the CRM software in the US where it has more than 1,600 customers for its CRM suite, averaging 25 seats per installation.

Commenting on the forthcoming software, Clive Longbottom of analyst company Quocirca said, "Small businesses with a couple of hundred employees are unlikely to find the functionality in CRM 2.0 useful because they do not run large campaigns. They do not need heavy technology because they do not have heavy business processes."

He added that the product would be ideally suited to organisations with between 1,000 and 2,000 employees. "But once Microsoft pushes into middle-sized firms it is competing against its own channel."